This book has had something of a miraculous resurrection. A few months ago, it looked like it could well be pulped and its author sued for libel after one of his subjects took offence at a less than flattering portrait. British libel laws are such that a writer facing an oligarch in court is not felt to stand much of a chance and there was a strong feeling in the publishing world that Tom Burgis would be required to cough up a considerable sum of cash. For once however, the British courts sided with the little guy and dismissed the case, allowing this excellent book to continue its life out in the wild. Although technical and at times a bit opaque on financial detail, it is an extremely well put together account of how dodgy money (very often channelled through London) can be moved around the world and continuing enriching both its very questionable owners and their willing accessories.

Ein Freund sagte einmal, nachdem er sich durch einen Text von Zizek gearbeitet hatte, dass es doch erstaunlich sei, in welchen Regionen sich manche Menschen bewegen und trotzdem noch in der Lage seien, feste Nahrung zu sich zu nehmen: Zizek-Lektüre ist harte Arbeit. Zizek ist Psychoanalytiker, Philosoph, Filmtheoretiker und Kommunist. Er macht es einem wahrlich nicht leicht, schreibt komplex, meinungsfreudig und erfreut sich an der Provokation. Sein neuestes Buch lässt jedoch kaum Raum für Missverständnisse zu und ist ausgesprochen klar und pointiert. Er fordert eine tatkräftigere Linke, die sich neu formieren muss, um den drängenden Problemen der Zeit zu begegnen. Von der kapitalistischen Weltordnung seien angesichts der globalen Bedrohungen keine Lösungen zu erwarten, von den diversen populistischen Bewegungen schon gar nicht. Ohne eine neue Wirtschaftsordnung sei die Zukunft nicht zu bewältigen. Keine neuen Töne von Zizek, aber selten mit einer solchen Klarheit formuliert.

When the draft to her first novel gets stolen in a robbery, Lasley impulsively upends her life in London and moves to Aberdeen to talk to men in Scotland, who work on oil rigs. Her long year of pub interviews with these workers is shot through by the story of her obssessive affair with Caden, the first oil rig worker she interviews.
The strongest part by far are the snippets of insights into life on the oil rig, the specific lingo and rythm of life offshore in an all male environment. In her own words, Lasley wanted to find out what men are like with no women around. This query gives the book, especially in the passages about the affair, a curiously misogynist angle. At times I found myself reminded of Lisa Taddeo's chronicles of love lives of three American women. Books like these are often heralded for showing 'female desire' when in fact it more often depicts are certain type of needy, unhealthy attachment style. Personally, less pining and more reporting would have pleased me.

There are a number of books one could read to try and make sense of the current situation but this one is definitely a good place to start. Originally published seven years ago, it chronicles Pomerantsev's experiences in the early noughties, when he was pursuing a career in Russian TV production. His highly readable account focuses on several cultural phenomena, such as the gangster turned film producer, the rise of Russia Today and the deeply ingrained corruption. I suspect this was once a more light-hearted read but in the light of recent events, it is almost scarily prescient and underlines once again the argument, that the war on Ukraine shouldn't really be a surprise but is rather the result of a development that someone could already knowledgably write about in 2014.

Author

Sevea, Iqbal SinghPalit, AmitenduRai, Vinod

Iqbal Singh Sevea is Director, Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. He is an internationally recognised scholar of contemporary and modern South Asia and his core research focuses on South Asian politics, social and political thought, and governance. Currently the vice president of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, he has also served on the committee of the American Institute of Indian Studies. He is the author of The Political Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam and Nationalism in Late Colonial India and Islamic Political Thought in Modern South Asia.

Dr Amitendu Palit is Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics) at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. He is an economist specialising in international trade and investment policies, FTAs, supply chains, connectivity, cross-border data flows and the Indian economy. He has edited and authored several books, including Globalisation Impacts: Countries, Institutions and COVID19 (editor) and China India Economics: Challenges, Competition and Collaboration.

Vinod Rai is presently a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies in the National University of Singapore. Starting his career in the Indian Administrative Service in 1972, Rai rose to become the 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India in 2008. He demitted office in May 2013. In 2016 Rai was appointed the first chairman of the newly created Banks Board Bureau, Government of India. He is the author of Not Just an Accountant: The Diary of the Nation's Conscience Keeper, Rethinking Good Governance: Holding to Account India's Public Institutions and Not Just a Nightwatchman: My Innings in the BCCI. Rai was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

India and the Future of G20

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